Fifteen thousand WA Catholic primary school students will star in their own movie, shot by their teachers in a new program introduced by the Catholic Education Office of Western Australia.
A CEOWA media statement announces that it has partnered with ClassMovies, a commercial entity, in a statewide first, to film 500 classrooms throughout the entire 130 primary system and bring a touch of the silver screen to schools.
The CEOWA plans to have a ClassMovie filmed in all pre-primary and grade seven classrooms in WA in 2009.
ClassMovies is a new product for schools, capturing the classroom experience and supplying a professionally-edited movie to students. It is one of a kind and new to Australia but so far has launched with a bang and reached over 1,000 classrooms across Australia, due to a large number of parent requests.
Phillip Lewis, founder of ClassMovies said, "Several Catholic schools in WA have already participated in a ClassMovie in 2008 and the feedback from teachers, parents and students was fantastic.
"Now students in Catholic schools from the remote Kimberly to Central Perth to South West WA will all be joining the ClassMovies program. They will receive an amazing memory of their time at school and parents will be able to have a unique insight into their child's school life."
The CEOWA has decided to implement the ClassMovies program across all schools to help open up the classroom to parents and the community, and provide a real sense of the unique spirit of each school.
Director of Catholic Education in WA, Ron Dullard said, "We are incredibly enthusiastic about this partnership and can't wait to get started. It will be a great insight into our schools and the Catholic school system as well as a great gift for the child and their parents.
"We foresee ClassMovies being screened at graduations, open days, education expos and a range of other events. We also plan to use the movies as part of our teacher recruitment initiatives," said Dullard.
Filming of the 500 ClassMovies will start from Term One this year. Teachers will receive their "Starter Packs", film their class over a week and then send the footage to ClassMovies to be edited. The teacher, school and all the students in each class will receive a copy of their 20 minute ClassMovie.
SOURCE
500 WA Catholic classrooms to get a touch of Hollywood in 2009 (CEOWA Media Release)
LINKS
Catholic Education Office of Western Australia
ClassMovies